Flipside And Rougeport
by book-reader233
Summary: Prior to the story, Mario and the heroes had protected Flipside and Rougeport from being enshrouded by darkness. Now, they are called upon to revive a couple whom they once knew. However, a dark force stands in their way and will not only endanger them, but also threaten the lives of their previous partners as well.
1. Out In The Desert

**Hi guys, I am back with a brand new story! This time, it is going to be based of the Paper Mario series. Though I may include characters that never appeared throughout the Paper Mario series.**

**Anyways, the first chapter is up and I hope you all enjoy it.**

**Chapter 1: Out In The Desert**

* * *

"Professor Frankly, I've packed up all the equipment; we can head back to Rougeport now!" A female Goomba with a ponytail called out.

As her professor packed up his final belongings, the two of them made their way to one of the many trailers, which was waiting on the only road back to the capital.

The two of them, along with a group of aspiring archaeologist students, had travelled to a desert to conduct experiments for a class assignment. They had all camped out at the desert for two days, carrying out their own work. Now that all has been done, it was time for everyone to head back to Rougeport.

The winds were mild and the desert was far and wide. For distances, there was nothing but sand and occasionally, some wild cactuses. After spending the last forty eight hours or so out in the location, everyone was ready to head back to their hometown.

As the trailers started on their journey, many students discussed with one another on the results they had obtained.

* * *

In the last trailer, which was the most behind, only four people were inside. They were the driver, Goombella, Professor Frankly and another one of the teachers. Having just won a prestigious award for outstanding achievement in her field, Goombella was successfully progressing with her career, and was now working as one of the researchers in one of Rougeport's highest acclaimed universities.

As she took out her bottle to quench her thirst, her professor made his way towards her.

"I really liked the way you helped out the students during their class trip," the professor praised.

"It was nothing; just wanted to help educate the future archaeologists who would be working towards a career similar to mine," Goombella explained.

As the two chatted on, the elder professor brought up a deep topic.

"It sure has been a long time since the huge incident broke out back in Rougeport," he said.

"How could I not forget?" Goombella replied.

* * *

Instantly, images of the events started to flash in her mind. She remembered the moment when she was confronted by Lord Crump. She remembered when Mario first saved her from the X Nauts. She remembered how the Shadow Queen rose out of the thousand-year door and plunged the city into darkness. And she remembered fighting alongside the heroes to defeat the Shadow Queen and protect the town and the people she cared about.

* * *

"Well," the professor's voice snapped her back into reality. "All of that is in the past; we just have to move on with the present."

Goombella nodded her head in agreement.

"Sorry Frankly, but could you come over to help me out? I have just too many essays and quizzes to inspect," the other professor called out.

"Well, I guess I better go lend a helping hand, you may want to take a rest while you can; it will take us another forty minutes or so to reach the city," Professor Frankly recommended.

"Sure thing, I have a lot of research back at the lab left to conduct, so it is best that I take every moment I can to rest my mind and body; after all, I would like to be fully recharged when I return home," Goombella agreed.

As Professor Frankly made his way to help out the other professor, Goombella laid down on the sofa bed and calmed her mind. Pretty soon, she had drifted off to sleep…

* * *

Soon after, she opened her eyes. When she did, the first thing that caught her attention was the helmet over her head and the magnificent cosmos that surrounded her.

Instead of panicking, Goombella simply rolled her eyes.

"Must be dreaming of outer space again," Goombella shrugged.

After having had a successful career, such as having received numerous awards and certifications for her findings, Goombella had come up with another goal: To explore outer space.

While it seemed like a long shot, Goombella still kept the hope alive.

"After all, if you can defeat a powerful spirit whom has been sealed away from a thousand years, you can have the potential to accomplish much more," she said to herself.

As she floated around in space, she thought of all the limitless boundaries and large variety of findings that she could locate out in the galaxy, until…

"Ow… wha…" Goombella stuttered, almost like as if she was having a split headache right on the spot.

Despite trying to shake off the headache, it simply got worse and worse. As she closed her eyes to try to ease the pain, she heard something that shocked her.

"Take the first one…"

* * *

"Goombella, wake up!"

The startled Goomba propped up and saw the professor standing in front of her.

"We have arrived at the city," Professor Frankly told her.

"What happened?" Goombella asked.

"Well, I tried calling you to tell you that we were about to arrive at the city but you seemed to be so deep in sleep that you did not hear me, so I came over called you too wake you up, my apologies if I was too loud," Professor Frankly explained.

As Goombella and the two professors exited the trailer, Goombella thought about what had just happened.

"Well, I guess it was simply just a bad dream; probably must have been due to a lack of rest," she shrugged it off.

Not long after, all of the students and professors were aboard a bus heading towards the airport and Goombella had forgotten about the incident earlier on.

Still feeling tired, she once again drifted off to sleep…

* * *

"Wake up!"

The pink princess fell off her bed and landed on the floor.

"Finally, it sure is about time you woke up!" Toadette exclaimed.

Peach just looked up to her friend in confusion.

"Toadette, what brings you here so early in the morning?" Peach asked.

"Uh, do you not remember the conversation we had on the phone yesterday afternoon? We had agreed that we would go out together," Toadette explained.

"Oh, how could I have forgotten about that? Guess I must have been too busy yesterday that it simply slipped through my mind," Peach said. "But why are you here right now, it is only 7.30AM."

"Well I was so excited about today that I simply just could not fall asleep last night; so I woke up early today and came to your castle and figured that I could discuss a plan for today," Toadette cheerfully replied.

"Well then, I guess I can't reject your enthusiasm; I am just going to go wash up and then we can plan our day while eating breakfast," Peach said.

As soon as she was done with her sentence, Toadette opened her mouth and was about to say something but was quickly interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing. Peach turned to her dressing table and saw that her phone was ringing.

"Better go and answer that," Peach said as she went towards her phone.

"Who is that on the other end?" Toadette asked.

"Oh, it is Mario," Peach said.

"Well tell him that you are not free today as you have a day planned with me, your second best friend, behind Daisy of course," Toadette told her. "Oh yeah, mind if I use your bathroom?"

Peach nodded her head and Toadette went towards the bathroom. However, she did not need to use the bathroom; she simply just wanted to view the beautiful interior and decorations. Upon stepping in the bathrooms, her breath was taken away. Toadette had always enjoyed the majestic and peaceful feeling that she got whenever she set foot in Peach's bathroom. As she took in the final sights, she went back to the bedroom to talk to Peach, whose back was facing her.

"Man, just imagine how much fun we could have today!" Toadette exclaimed. "Think of all the stores we get to see, as well as all the clothes and shoes we get to try on, and with all the merchandise we could find, think of how awesome today is going to…"

Before Toadette could finish her sentence, Peach turned to her with a serious expression on her face.

"Toadette, we may need to reschedule our appointment," she said seriously. "One of my friends needs help."

* * *

**So that is all for Chapter 1, I sure hope you enjoyed it.**

**Do feel free to drop a comment, review or suggestion.**

**Stay tuned for the next chapter!**

**Goodbye for now!**


	2. The First Message

**Hi guys, I am back with the next chapter of my story!**

**Before we begin, I would like to do the disclaimer. I do not own anything in the story, they all belong to Nintendo and their other respective companies.**

**With that said, let us begin.**

**Enjoy the chapter!**

**Chapter 2: The First Message**

* * *

Mario, Luigi and Peach were all in a helicopter that was flying across the ocean and approaching Rougeport.

"So what happened with Goombella?" Luigi asked.

"Well, I received a phone call at six or seven in the morning from Vivian that Goombella had suddenly slipped into a coma of some sort," Mario explained. "She also mentioned that there were some slight events that took place before Goombella lost consciousness and that Professor Frankly believed that we could help."

As the helicopter slowly descended, the three of them could only hope that whatever happened to Goombella was not going to be serious.

* * *

25 minutes later, Mario, Luigi and Peach were all in the waiting room of the Goomba hospital, waiting for Professor Frankly to arrive.

"What could have possibly happened to her?" Luigi wondered.

"I am thinking that she may have gotten some sort of infection from travelling; after all, she has sent us letters where she says she has travelled to many different areas to conduct experiments so it is likely that she came into contact with some sort of a virus," Peach assumed.

At that moment, Professor Frankly came out from the elevator and approached them.

"Mario, I am so glad that you have arrived!" the professor exclaimed.

The three humans then followed Professor Frankly as he led them to Goombella's ward.

When they arrived outside the ward, they could see Goombella in the room through the glass window.

She was lying down on the bed with her eyes closed and was completely motionless. There were wires on her body which were attached to a machine which tracked her heart rate. Oddly enough, her heart was beating at a normal pace.

"Why aren't there any drips in the room?" Luigi asked the Goomba.

"Well you see that is the odd part; Goombella's health condition is perfectly fine, the doctors have ran examinations and check-ups on her and there seems to be nothing wrong with her body or her organs," Professor Frankly explained.

"Well then why is she in such condition?" Peach asked.

"That is the reason why I called you all here," Professor Frankly said.

The four of them then took a seat on the couch outside Goombella's room as the professor explained to the heroes the situation.

"One day, Goombella called me over to go come to her apartment, she said that she was having some very bad headaches and wanted to share something with me. When I arrived at her apartment she seemed pretty healthy. She then filled me in on the situation," Professor Frankly explained. "About a week ago we had gone to a desert far from Rougeport to conduct some experiments. When we were done, we were prepared to head back. Goombella told me that while we were on our way back to the town from the desert, she had a dream where she felt as though she had a headache and she heard someone saying a series of words to her. At first she dismissed the fact, since she thought she was just exhausted."

"Then we took another bus ride to the airport where we took a plane to Rougeport," the professor continued. "And when we arrived back in Rougeport, she said that she had another dream on the plane where she heard someone saying another few words, and her headache got even serious. However, despite that, she still felt as though she was just hallucinating since he had not gotten that much sleep the past few days."

"And a couple of days ago, which is the same day she called me over to her place, she had a very painful headache and heard some more words in her head, and they were so loud and clear that it was painful for her, and so she called me over to her place stay for the night in case something happened to her, and as she had expected, something did happen that night," Professor Frankly went on.

"And what happened that night?" Luigi asked.

"Well, I slept on the couch in the living room while Goombella slept in her room and during the middle of the night Goombella called out to me, and so I went into her room and saw holding her head and saying that she had an extremely painful headache and that she could hear a series of words and they were more clearly and loud this time, and so I wrote down the words on a piece of paper, and afterwards she lost consciousness, and so I called the ambulance," Professor Frankly said. "When we arrived at the hospital, the doctors took Goombella to the ward and did a series of check-ups on her and everything seemed normal, but she just remained asleep."

"So, what do you think is wrong with her?" Mario asked.

"Well, I am not fully certain what is her condition but I am pretty sure that the series of words she had heard in her head must be linked to this," Professor Frankly replied.

"Do you know what the words she heard were?" Luigi asked.

"Yes, Goombella had written them down on a piece of paper which I have with me write here," Professor Frankly said as he took out a piece of paper from his bag.

"The first series of words she heard were "Take the first one…" and the second series of words were more interesting and important, to me, as they were "…to Merlumina…", does that name sound familiar to you?" Frankly read out from the paper.

The heroes' were immediately stunned by the words the professor had said.

"Yes, she is a member of the Tribe of Ancients whom we met when we were protecting Flipside and the other worlds from a dark force known as The Void," Mario mentioned.

"Well the next series of words were "…and let her sleep with it…" followed by the last few words "… for a full twenty four hours…" and those were the last words Goombella said before she lost consciousness," Professor Frankly said.

"So let me get this straight, Goombella heard a message where someone had to take something to Merlumina and sleep with it for one whole day?" Luigi asked.

"Well it would appear so," Professor Frankly said.

"So does that mean that if we do the specific actions we would be able to waken Goombella?" Peach wondered.

"I suppose it is the only lead we have right now," Mario said.

"Well, if that is the case, then I guess it is time for us to pay a visit to Flipside," Luigi announced.

* * *

**And that is it for Chapter 2! The next chapter will be up pretty soon... maybe. :)**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Goodbye for now!**


	3. Meeting Merlon Once Again

**Hi guys, I am back with the next chapter of my story!**

**Before we begin with the story, I would like to do the disclaimer. I do not own anything in the story; they all belong to Nintendo and their other respective companies.**

**With that said, let us continue on from where we left off in the previous chapter.**

**Enjoy the chapter!**

**Chapter 3: Meeting Merlon Once Again**

* * *

It was a calm and quiet night in Flipside. The tranquil atmosphere provided the residents with a comfortable setting as they all cuddled up in their beds, getting some well awaited sleep.

However, this silence would very soon be broken by a loud noise.

At the top of Flipside Tower, a large flash of light could be seen as a particular section flipped between two dimensions constantly. Eventually, this motion would stop and the light would dim as three figures appeared at the top of the tower.

Quietly, the three of them made their way to the elevator and went to the second floor and approached a house which belonged to an inhabitant who played a vital role in their mission back at this location years ago.

* * *

"So that is why you three have arrived back in Flipside?" asked the inhabitant of the house.

"That is absolutely true Merlon, we have to try and help out our partners," Luigi explained.

The three heroes were now in Merlon's house, which had obviously gone through some renovation and redecorating since the heroes last saw it.

It was now relatively bigger in size as compared to last time. Several bookcases lined the wall with, well, books, ranging from huge varieties. A dining table was located a few feet away from the living room, which consisted of a couch, which the three heroes were sitting on, two comfy chairs by the side, and a table in the centre. Located further in the house was a study table, which was filled with notes. There was also another book placed on the edge of the study table. It was the Light Prognosticus, the book which was essential in protecting the world. The final aspect of the house would be the bedroom, which was located behind the door beside the study table. A wardrobe was placed against a wall right next to a television. A regular sized bed was placed near the centre of the room behind dressing table. Located in the room as well, was the bathroom.

This was where Merlon lived when the heroes first met him.

"Well if that is the case then I will be more than willing to help you guys out, after all; I am pretty sure none of us would want anything bad to happen to your friends," Merlon answered.

"Thank you very much Merlon; we would be most grateful for your aid," Peach replied.

"So, let us try to figure out what the phrase is supposed to mean, apparently we know that we are supposed to take something to Merlumina and let her sleep with it for one whole day, but whatever could this thing be?" Merlon wondered.

"Well, let us just hope that it is a thing and not a person; because I really do not think Merlumina would be happy sleeping one whole day whilst holding onto somebody else and things might get rather ugly,"Luigi said.

Peach on the other hand was thinking hard and came across a possible answer.

"No... it couldn't be..." Peach told herself.

"What was that you said Peach?" Mario asked curiously.

"Well, this might sound a little out of hand, but do you think the thing we are referring to could be the first Pure Heart?" Peach asked.

The three of them just sat in silence, unsure of what to think. Back when the gang protected Flipside, they placed 8 Pure Hearts in 8 different Heart Pillars to open doors to new worlds till they eventually arrived at their enemy's residence.

"It might not be true, but as of now it is the only object that can be linked to Merlumina," Peach explained.

"Well, you could be correct, but is it even possible to remove the Pure Hearts from the Heart Pillars in the first place?" Mario asked.

Luigi and Peach both nodded their heads, agreeing that it seemed impossible for them to do so.

"Maybe, it is possible," Merlon said.

The three heroes turned to look at Merlon with interest.

"I have recently been working on a device that may be able to extract the Pure Hearts from the Heart Pillar; I have been planning to store them in the vault at the bank close by since the security is very tight and so they probably will not get stolen by enemies and we can also use them to protect ourselves from danger in the future," Merlon explained.

"But do you think that is would be safe?" Mario asked.

"That I will not know until I give it a try," Merlon admitted.

"Well it would be risky, but as of now it seems like that is the only option for us if we wish to awaken Goombella from her sleep," Peach said."

"All right then, let us give it a try," Luigi decided.

"Well, it is still the middle of the night, what say you three get some rest first, and then first thing tomorrow we try to obtain that Pure Heart," Merlon suggested.

"Works for us," Luigi approved.

"All right, well the three of you can go drop by at Tigna's inn for the night; she had since remodeled and rebuilt her property and I am sure that she would be more than welcome to provide you three with a room," Merlon said.

"I would love that," Luigi said.

Pretty soon, the three heroes were all inside a room unpacking their bags as they laid out their kit, preparing what was necessary for the adventure tomorrow.

"Well, it is getting kind of late, let us get some shut eye," Luigi said.

As Luigi and Peach went to lie down on their beds, Mario went towards the light switch.

"It looks like it is time to travel through this dimension once again!" Mario exclaimed before turning off the lights.

* * *

**So that is all for Chapter 1, I sure hope you enjoyed it.**

**Do feel free to drop a comment, review or suggestion.**

**Please stay tuned for the next chapter!**

**Goodbye for now!**


	4. Merlumina Takes A Nap

**Hi guys, I am back with the next chapter of my story!**

**Before we begin with the story, I would like to do the disclaimer. I do not own anything in the story; they all belong to Nintendo and their other respective companies.**

**With that said, let us continue on from where we left off in the previous chapter.**

**Enjoy the chapter!**

**Chapter 4: Merlumina Takes a Nap**

* * *

As the sun began to rise, many residents of Flipside prepared themselves for the day ahead.

A certain plumber, however, was sitting on a couch, pondering on what could possibly await them up ahead.

"The last time I came here, I had a mission; to protect this dimension from getting destroyed from The Void, now I am back here once again, and I have no ability to predict what we may encounter this time," Mario said to himself.

"Bro, it is time for us to get going!" Luigi exclaimed from outside the door.

"All right I am coming!"

"You are doing what?!" Luigi shrieked in horror.

"I said I was coming towards the door..." Mario responded.

"Oh, you mean coming as in C-O-M-I-N-G… sorry, I was thinking something else, something rather dirty…" Luigi said sheepishly.

"You have got to tell Daisy to stop exposing you to so many adult videos on the web," Mario shrugged.

"Actually, it was Toadette, Yoshi and Birdo whom introduced me to the term, don't ask how, you do not want to know and I am not keen on remembering it," Luigi admitted.

* * *

At the reception counter, Peach was busy settling the bill.

"That is 60 coins for our stay," Peach said as she paid Tinga the money.

"Thank you, it was my pleasure to have had you three stay over for the night," Tinga replied.

"Thanks, we owe you for those times when you allowed us to stay overnight the last time during our mission so we could regenerate our health," Peach recalled.

"You are most certainly welcome," Tinga said.

* * *

A few minutes later, the heroes were all gathered at the third floor of Flipside. Standing before them, was the first heart pillar. It was the exact one which Tippi had led Mario to at the beginning of his mission.

"Wow, I can still remember the time when I first placed the Pure Heart in this thing," Mario said as he recalled how his adventure in this dimension had began.

"So, will your device be able to work?" Luigi asked Merlon.

Merlon was holding onto an octagonal plate which was made of metal. At each side of the octagon, there was a button labelled 1 to 8. At the centre of the device was a heart-shaped crevice.

"We shall find out right this instant," Merlon said. "I want all of you to stand behind me lest something were to go terribly wrong."

The four of them were standing a reasonably safe distance away from the Heart Pillar. Merlon pushed the button labelled 1, causing an electric signal to emerge from the heart-shaped crevice. The group watched as the signal travelled to the Heart Pillar, surrounding it, causing the pillar to glow red.

"Does it seem to be working?" Luigi asked.

For a while, the pillar just simply glowed while the Pure Heart did not budge. However, something suddenly happened which caught their attention.

"Look at that!" Mario exclaimed.

The Pure Heart was now starting to glow red as well. Slowly, it started to glow even brighter and brighter. The four figures watched in surprise as the Pure Heart was freed from the pillar and travelled along the electric current to arrive at the crevice on the device. Slowly, the signal disappeared as the Heart Pillar regained its usual colour as did the Pure Heart.

"Well, if that is not an indication that it worked then I do not know what is," Luigi said, reaching for the Pure Heart.

"Wait, do not touch it yet," Merlon warned. "It could be dangerous, you never know."

"I may have a solution for that," Peach said, relieved that the author finally gave her her next line. She reached for her parasol which seemed to magically appear out of know where. She asked Merlon to place the device on the floor as she used the handle of her parasol to remove the Pure Heart from the crevice.

"Well, I suppose that is safe enough," Mario said as he picked up the Pure Heart.

"So, I guess the next thing to do is to is to take it to Merlumina and let her sleep with it for 24 hours," Luigi said.

"Well then, what exactly are we waiting for?" Mario asked.

"I believe we are waiting for the author to give me another line to say," Peach said.

* * *

Soon after Peach had been reprimanded by the author for breaking the fourth wall, the three heroes, together with Merlon, made their way to top floor of Flipside, where the seven doors still remained.

"Remember, Merlumina's chamber is located at the end of the Yold Ruins, you all should probably still remember how to get there right?" Merlon confirmed.

"You do not have to worry about us Merlon, we went there countless times before during our journey, we can make it there again," Mario answered.

"Well, I wish the three of you the best of luck," Merlon said.

The three heroes, each with their own bags, approached the first, red coloured, door.

"You guys ready?" Mario asked.

Luigi and Peach both nodded their heads in unison. Upon receiving the heads up, Mario opened the door as the three heroes entered the new world.

"I can only hope that their journey will go smoothly, however, with something like a Pure Heart in their hands, they cannot possibly let their guard down at any moment," Merlon said, hoping for the best.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at Rougeport…

Professor Frankly stood outside the waiting room of the hospital as he carefully monitored Goombella. The Goomba was still unconscious and had yet to show any signs of movement.

"Oh Goombella, if only you could wake up soon…" Professor Frankly said.

"…Then I could be able to go on with the next phase of my plans… which nobody knows about...though they will find out soon... very, very soon..."

* * *

Back to the heroes…

"Well, we sure have made quite some progress from escaping the ruins," Peach commented.

As the three of them walked through the desert, they arrived at the destination which Mario found very familiar.

"This was the location where Dimentio first appeared, and where I fought Fracktail; Dimentio had used his powers to turn him into a villain, and I had no choice but to attack him in order to progress on with the journey," Mario said, recalling his adventure.

As Luigi and Peach listened on with interest, the princess stood in between the two brothers; ahead of Luigi and behind Mario. She had kept the Pure Heart in her bag and the brothers were standing in front and behind her in case an enemy showed up. Peach studied her surroundings cautiously, well aware of the dangers that lurked out in the desert.

Soon after, they arrived beside another door. They opened it and entered the chamber which belonged to Merlumina. The heroes walked down the steps and reached the centre of the chamber, which was completely different than it was during their last visit. It was now covered entirely with furniture, such as a bookshelf, a dining table, a sofa, three couches and a chandelier. The resident, however, was nowhere to be seen.

"Where exactly is Merlumina?" Luigi wondered.

"Well, she could possibly be sleeping, that is what she usually does most of the time," Mario sated.

"True, but she would have woken up by now if she felt our presence in this chamber..." Peach pointed out.

Before the princess could finish her statement, a glow of light appeared beside the chandelier. Slowly, the light began to glow even brighter and brighter. As the light glowed one last time, it enshrouded the whole room, causing the heroes to close their eyes. When they opened them, they saw the spirit coming down towards them. Slowly, she descended from the ceiling and appeared right before them.

...

"Um, hello, miss Merlumina?" Luigi called out.

"W...W...Why..." Merlumina mumbled, trying to open her eyes. " WHY DID YOU WAKE ME UPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP?!"

Despite being a spirit, her shout rattled the entire room, causing every single item to shake in position. The heroes tried their best to remain on their feet, concerned about the chandelier which was shaking vigorously, as though it could fall any moment.

After a brief moment, the vibration stopped and there was complete silence.

"Um... sorry?" Luigi apologized to the spirit.

"Well, if it isn't the heroes, I have not seen you guys since you last came here to ask me for my autograph before I went into a deep sleep, welcome back to my chamber, this place is different since I remodeled it, it provides a more cozy atmosphere and reduces the chances of me getting woken up... well that is until you guys arrived," Merlumina greeted the heroes.

"So, what brings you three here to my place?" she asked.

"Well you see, it is quite a long story, one of our friends..." Peach started explaining, only to be cut off by her knight, or in this case, plumber, in shining armor.

"Long story short, we need you to hold on to an object while you sleep for twenty four hours," Mario stated.

"So, you want me to sleep with something for one full day?" Merlumina confirmed.

"That is absolutely right," Luigi said.

"Here is the item," Mario said, signalling to Peach.

"But, don't you think that we should explain to her why she n..." Peach insisted.

"Just give her the item first; we will explain it to you later," Luigi told her.

Peach did as she was told and opened up her bag to take out the Pure Heart. It illuminated the chamber and filled it with a red aura, catching the spirit's attention.

"AIEEE! Is that not the Pure Heart? You want me to sleep with it?" Merlumina asked.

"Yep, so can you please do that for us?" Mario asked as Peach handed her the object. The spirit spent her time to admire the object.

"This object, it gives off such a warm feeling; why, it reminds me of my childhood, oh those years were so much fun, right from the start I f..." Merlumina started off.

Mario and Luigi dropped their heads; this was the last thing they had hoped to encounter when they visited Merlumina.

"This is basically the reason why we did not want you to explain the full story to Merlumina; because she would have spent who knows how long telling us some long tale of her past," Luigi explained to Peach.

The two brothers then made their way to the sofa and lay down on it.

"You may want to come here as well; she is probably going to spend hours on her story," Mario told Peach.

"Don't be rude you guys, I think we should listen to her stories and show that we are interested in what she has to say; it shows a form of respect," Peach explained to the brothers.

* * *

30 Minutes Later...

"AIEEE! You three have fallen asleep!" Merlumina yelled out.

The three heroes were jolted out from the sofa and on to the floor.

"Oh, I am so sorry!" Peach apologized as she fixed her hair.

"Well, either way, I am sure that I can just send you an email about my story some other time, right now, I will take a well-deserved nap with this Pure Heart," Merlumina announced as her spirit started to drift away. "Come and see me... in twenty four hours..."

The spirit then faded away from sight as the three heroes stared at one another.

"You guys were right; her story was long as crazy, I fell asleep ten minutes into her story," Peach stated.

"I am surprised you actually lasted that long, do you think she will send us an email?" Luigi asked.

"I don't think so; I doubt that she has any form of technology able to do so," Mario assumed.

"But just in case she does, we are not going to tell her we have email addresses; she will spam them and crash them with her story," Luigi insisted.

"Well, I guess we should return back to Flipside and come here tomorrow; hopefully we will be able to awaken Goombella from her unconsciousness," Peach said.

Mario then took out the red tunnel which he had previously used before when he came to this dimension for his mission. A beam of light surrounded the heroes as they were magically transported back to Flipside.

* * *

Back in Rougeport, Professor Frankly was still outside the hospital ward, studying Goombella very carefully.

"Frankly, I think it is about time that we left," one of his assistants called out.

The professor took one last look at Goombella.

"Oh Goombella, if only you knew what I did..."

With that, the professor left the area.

* * *

It was now night time in Flipside as the heroes settled in at Tinga's Inn once again.

Peach was already asleep on her bed while the two brothers were still discussing some matters.

"Do you think this is really going to help Goombella?" Luigi asked his older brother.

"The only thing we can do now is to wait and see," Mario said.

"And of course wait while Merlumina takes a nap," Luigi said, using air quotes when he said the word "nap".

Mario then stared out the window, which showed a scenery of the town Flipside. As he took the time to admire the beautiful scenery, he could only hope that the journey here this time, will not be as dangerous as the journey last time.

* * *

**So that is all for Chapter 4, I sure hope you enjoyed it.**

**Note: The episode title was said by Luigi; I was not sure what to name this episode so I just finished my story first and picked some random line which I thought best associated to the story.**

**Do feel free to drop a comment, review or suggestion.**

**Also, I have created a poll on my account and I would like for you to answer it. It would only take about a minute of your time and your responses will be able to help decide on what goes on next in the story(Not that I don't already have somewhat of a plan). **

**Stay tuned for the next chapter!**

**Goodbye for now!**


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